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Sunday, January 22, 2017

Brazil Prison Where 26 Inmates Were Slain Enters 7th Day of Uprising

SAO PAULO – Inmates continued their uprising on Friday for the seventh straight day at Alcacuz Prison in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, where the armed forces were arriving to ensure security in the streets.

Friday dawned with the prisoners camped out on the roofs of the penitentiary in the Natal metropolitan region, where last weekend 26 people were brutally murdered, most of them members of the Crime Syndicate of the North (SDC), by order of the First Capital Command (PCC).

The evening before, inmates fought a pitched battle and, a spokesperson for the Rio Grande do Norte Military Police told EFE after the clash, “there could be some deaths” but “we don’t yet know how many.”

Police tried to contain the damage by throwing stun bombs and shooting rubber bullets into the conflict area, then rushed in to stop the war declared between the prison factions and remove the wounded, but the groups returned Friday to freely occupy the common areas of the prison complex.

The first rebellion in Alcacuz took place last Saturday after visiting hour, when prisoners of cell block 5, including members of the PCC, invaded cell block 4, where prisoners of the Crime Syndicate are held.

Authorities proceeded this week to transfer inmates to other jails around the state, which sparked a wave of attacks on buses and police stations.

Brazilian President Michel Temer authorized the use of the armed forces to guarantee safety in the streets, and the armed forces plan to begin to patrol Friday the main tourist attractions and avenues of Rio Grande do Norte.